Mee Siam @ The Royals Cafe

Mee Siam. What is Mee Siam? As you know Siam is the former name for Thailand but many of you are familiar with Thailand but at no time have I tasted Mee Siam in Thailand and yet it seems to suggest that it could originally be 'Siamese Noodles'. Commonly known to us, it is basically rice vermicelli popular in Singapore and Malaysia. It could have originated from Malay or Peranakan communities or could it be just have been inspired by or simply adapted from Thai flavours and it captures the essence of spicy, sweet and sour in a light gravy.

The gravy is made from ''rempah'' ( the core ingredients of rempah are chilli, shallots and garlic with other spices and rempah actually means spice paste).  In our multi-racial food paradise, even Mee Siam is varied. The Malays even have a dry version which is essentially stir-fried rice vermicelli using the same ingredients. Some may garnish it with chives, omelette strips, bean spouts and lime. Some may have ''tau pok''. Tamarind is always used and others may add fermented soy beans for the gravy. The closest Thai version is their ''Mi Kathi" which is rice vermicelli with the sauce made from coconut milk and tamarind. In Singapore, we have the Malay, Indian, Chinese and also the Peranakan versions. Just a couple of weeks back, a Malay friend fed us mee siam.

Mee siam is easy to eat. The gravy is sweet and sour and if you were to squeeze some lime into it, It makes you perk up or should I say wake up. Often, you will find mee siam at golf courses' halfway houses. Once the food is prepared, you just put in the seasoned bee hoon, throw in an egg, add some chives and then the gravy is the coup de grace. Squeeze a lime and add chili to spice things up. 

There is a Chinese stall at the Tanjong Pagar market/food centre that makes very excellent lontong, mee rebus and mee siam. You should try it. Since they started sometime ago, they have garnered a strong following. 

The proud owners were featured by me in 2011 and continued to feed the masses. Often, you will see people queueing to buy many packets to take away. The quality of the food remains very good and the service always friendly.

http://gforce-guru.blogspot.sg/2011/11/delicious.html

So a friend recommended what he said is the best mee siam and I remembered it and a month or so later I reminded him of his obligation. So we found ourselves at The Royals Cafe. 

Right next to the popular Jalan Tua Kong mee pok stall's old location.

As the mission was to do mee siam, we wasted no time with the menu. We chose the set that comes with a drink and a slice of cake. 

The gravy is thick and full of goodness, not at all watery. Probably lots of onions has gone into it. It is indeed a most fabulous mee siam as I have not tasted one so good for quite a long time.

The nonya touch is clearly evident inthe mee siam because only nonya makes mee siam like that. 

Then along came the most unique cake I have ever eaten. The ''Ondeh Ondeh" cake. It is literally ondeh ondeh that has been religiously converted from ondeh ondeh to cake. Oops! Is there such a description for food as religiously converted. Yes and why not? Religiously in another form means extremely scrupulous and conscientious. Well, as far as this cake is concerned, I am a convert!

The freshly shredded coconut, the unmistakable pandan flavour and the gula melaka made my day.

Are you a convert? Does not matter. Just do not be converted wrongly. At the end, you may just be like a piece of cake. There are others who are food perverts. 

They also have the ang moh carrot cake. One day my son brought his American friend for carrot cake. When he heard that he was delighted as he missed the carrot cake back home. He must have been shocked when the man asked if he likes black or white or may be thinking Singaporeans are racist. I am still wondering which type of carrot cakes he likes.

Mee siam is one of my favourite food. It is a ''go to'' food when you do not know what to eat and so refreshing when you do not feel like eating. Mee Siam - Banzai!